we begin tonight with that flood watch. that rain has been pounding us off and on all day long. right now the national weather service issued a flood watch for the entire d.c. area until 8:00 tomorrow morning and we have team coverage keeping an eye on the situation. topper shutt in the weather center live in montgomery county. >> let's get over to topper. the forecast, how much rain tonight? >> that's the heaviest activity we've seen later on tonight just in time for the morning commute. let's start with the watch area, hasn't changed been issued since 3:00 this afternoon, i think the threat diminished but a flash flood watch covers the entire metro area from essentially i-81 all the way to the bay. so overnight then we're looking at a flash flood watch and we're looking at looks like heaviest activity between 3:00 a.m. and about 7:00 a.m. so breezy and muggy. it's really muggy outside. rain and thunderstorms low temperature 65-70 winds increasing. a quick look at doppler radar

shows light activity toward baltimore and north of annapolis but we'll come back and track that for you because that's what could cause problems for the morning commute. wake up weather in just a bit. let's get out to andrea in montgomery county. road conditions tonight and what should folks expect tomorrow morning? >> reporter: well, derek and anita, we've been driving through montgomery county and prince georges county through rain throughout the night. at this point i'm at the intersection of beach drive and kensington parkway and this is what you'll see along the side of the road. just a little bit of water still left from the evening storms, but as topper said a lot more is set to come. the ground is saturated as well and you know, we all wanted the rain, farmer wanted it, gardeners wanted it but come morningtime, and time for the commute, beach drive as anyone in this area knows is one of those places that you will expect to see signs like that. this is one of the more flood

prone areas of montgomery county. some of the other more flood prone areas are little falls parkway in massachusetts avenue. the glenn road area, of potomac, and the tridelphia area of northeast montgomery county. derrick and anita, right now not a lot of rain, little bit of drizzle. the roads are fairly slick and there is water on the side of the road but nothing substantial at this point. we suspect a completely different picture in just a few hours and certainly for the morning commute. reporting live, 9 news now. >> thanks andrea. two maryland teenagers are under arrest after a two year old boy accidentally shot himself in the chest. this happened early this morning at an apartment in hagerstown. police say the toddler found the loaded gun under his 16 year old brothers bed. the two year old is in critical condition at children's hospital in d.c. officers say the brother had stolen the gun and hidden it under the bed.

his girlfriend faces charges for trying to hide the weapon at a nearby playground. both are charged as adults in the case. tonight doctors are working to save the life of a one year old child critically hurt in this crash in brandywine, maryland. the child was in a car with two other kids and two adults and for reasons we don't yet know, that car ran off floral park road and smacked into a tree. first responders say the one year old was unconscious during the helicopter flight to the hospital. everybody else in the car escaped with only minor injuries. a 9 news now update for you, the verdict is guilty for a drunken driver who killed three people including a young man from maryland. nick is also a rookie pitcher for the los angeles angels. the jury convicted the driver of the other car of second degree murder. prosecutors say gallo had a blood alcohol level almost three times the legal limit and he ran the red light and he caused the crash and he just drove away. there's even more. he was driving without a

license and on probation for an earlier dui. tonight, good news for the motorcycle man with the helmet cam. you probably remember this video. anthony graber was recording when a maryland state trooper pulled him over at gunpoint for going at a very high speed on i- 95. after the video hit youtube, police arrested graber. now a judge has dismissed charges he was taping the officer illegally. the judge says he had every right to record a cop doing this job out in public. a germantown man says he and a co-conspirator charged more than 50 people $5,000 each for fake citizenship papers. 29 year old robert fred mahia plead guilty to in person ating an immigration and cuts ops officer. he says he would meet with folks needing immigration help all while dressed as an agent. prosecutors say the victims lost at least $400,000. police forces are on the list for potential budget cuts in montgomery county as executives say all options are

on the table to handle yet another financial crisis. >> he's looking at across-the- board cuts of up to 10-15% to deal with a shortfall of between 100 and $200 million. gary is here with what that means for the folks on the ground. gary? >> reporter: derek and anita, legett says he's not considering more taxes now but he also says everything is on the table so fewer services for sure, more taxes maybe. >> it's not just a lousy national economy hammering local governments. last winter's snow was a costly surprise to county budgets. >> we spent almost $17 million in just the winter storms. >> a drop in the bucket following a year with a billion dollar budget hole that lead to the biggest county cutbacks in modern history. >> we cut a lot of things last year that we didn't want to cut and there will be more cuts like that next year. >> libraries for example,, 160 positions, shorter hours, angry patrons like robin just after

8:00. >> the library is closed and the other thing that really annoys me with the library is that now we have to pay to park. >> county executive leggett is telling all departments to prepare for 10-15% cuts in the months ahead. he has no decision on the size of hits to be taken by schools, public safety, county employees. >> we have to make certain we treat them fairly, that they applaud the solution as we go forward and we want to try to protect as many jobs as possible. >> but costly employee benefit packages? >> you put the focus on people and on the services that you need to provide to them and if that means you pay your employees a little less and perhaps they don't get as big a retirement benefit, so be it. >> everything is on the table at this point. >> that 10-15% reduction is the average needed across-the-board if the county decides that schools and public safety should get hit less, something else will get hit more. >> okay, gary so we heard no

decisions yet. when will we find out how big those cuts will be and what's going to get cut? >> leggett is looking at forecasts of slow national economy that reduces county revenues and anticipates that shortfall if trends continue, wants department heads to be ready. crunch time for the budget, next spring. >> that's when we get the bad news i guess, thank you. thousands of people showed up this morning to play the slots at the new hollywood casino in perryville maryland. the crowd turned out despite the fact the early opening was announced just 12 hours ahead of time. this is the first slots parlor in maryland since voters okay' d the idea four years ago. the owners expect to create about 350 jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue. president barack obama says the worst performing school teachers have got to go if they don't get better and fast. that was part of his address this morning on education issues in this country. he also created a bit of a stir when he said his two daughters who attend private school could not get the same quality

education at a d.c. public school. >> the d.c. public school systems are struggling. now, they have made some important strides over the last several years to move in the direction of reform. >> but some parents of d.c. students at the lucky elementary in southwest don't necessarily agree. >> if you had a chance to talk to the president what would you tell him? >> you're wrong for saying that. >> you have to put your child in the school system, then you can have a right to say whether or not you want to send them but this school is wonderful. >> d.c. school chancellor michelle reeves weighed in on the presidential marks. she told the washington post today, it is a fair assessment. we have indeed seen good progress over the last few years but we still have a long way to go before we can say we're providing all children with an excellent education. over at montgomery county schools the cafateria must be serving some kind of genius juice. turns out 157 students have been named national merit

scholarship semi-finalists. 157. they represent 16 high schools all across the country so those kids will now compete nationally for scholarships offered next spring. for more stories from where you live go to wusa9.com and find your community in that section called where you live and keep up with what's happening in your neighborhood. you have a story or news tip we want to hear about that as well. contact us and be part of the team at wusa9.com. queue the scary music. ufo's are out there and they're trying to tell us something. >> so says a group of air force researchers who collect every offered a public warning today, as britney morehouse reports their ideas as you can imagine are being greeted with a bit of skepticism, britney? >> reporter: skeptics who call for the burden of proof. maybe they will see it as soon as eight retired u.s. air force officers stood behind an author who is a big believer of ufos and they shared their personal stories. >> i believe these gentlemen believe that this planet is being visited by beings from

another world. >> with a statement like that, who needs et? it's one that comes from scientists robert hastings today at the national press club. he says those other beingings-- >> have taken an interest in the nuclear arms race which began at the end of world war ii. >> his proof? these are shutting down missle sites and eight retired air force officers can vow they've seen examples. >> regarding the missle shut down incidents, my opinion, their opinion is that whoever are aboard these craft are sending a signal to both washington and moscow among others that we are playing with fire. >> one has to be very skeptical, and the more extraordinary the claim, the more you need a lot of evidence before you accept it. >> dr. stuart jordan is senior staff scientist at the nasa goddard space flight center and his view on aliens, not buying it. case in point, a study years ago on ufo sitings. >> they studied hundreds of them and found two or three

cases where they could not think of a complete explanation, but all of the others were due to known physical phenomenon reflective and reflective optical processes, objects that when seen on an angle appeared to be a saucer. >> he says just like political debates on the news, scientists can take an observation and perceive it how they may. >> we'll all be bias. even when you're a trained scientist and you spent your entire life trying to be rational and go after the facts, you find at times you have to draw back a little bit because your feelings are getting involved. >> the video you saw probably a little bit of manufactured there with what we pulled from youtube. dr. jordan says all examples still should be considered seriously but he points to the ultimate message of todays event. he says it may be more about nuclear arms than aliens. i'm meterologist topper shutt. we don't need this just yet but we will come morning. we'll take you out with the wake up weather.

66-74, kind of muggy tomorrow morning with showers, winds picking up out of the south at 10-15. flood watch is in effect. we'll tell you what counties are most susceptibile to flooding. stay tuned. hey, ove, i'm gonna need a bank. any ideas?

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if you own a small business you might want to listen to this one. you could be in line for a break from the fed's. president obama signed a bill that creates a fund to help small businesses expand and perhaps hire new workers. that bill also offers eight separate tax breaks for small businesses. southwest customers may soon be able to get away to some new destinations. the low fare airline said today it will buy rival low cost carrier air tran, for $1.4 billion. if okay'd, southwest will now fly to 37 new cities including atlanta. the deal also means expanding service in places like boston and new york and moving into regan national airport. experts say that could be a big win for customers. >> that means for the first time you've really got a strong national low cost carrier flying out of national which

may help reduce the rate. >> southwest would take over air tran slots at regan national and offer at least 11 flights in and out. the deal is expected to close in the first half of next year. well tonight an all new hawaii 5-0 is hoping to repeat its first week success the remake of the classic drama was last mondays top new program and now the show is just like bringing cash for the university of maryland. >> for real. attention all terps fans. the team needs you. the shows theme song is one of the most recognizable in tv history. now maryland hopes its rendition will win big bucks from cbs. >> andrea rollins has more on the request to show the country they are the best maryland 5-0. >> reporter: the music that's unmistakable. this is hawaii 5-0. >> [applause]. >> no one does it better than the university of maryland marching band.

>> we're actually spelling out the words hawaii 5-0 and making a wave and actually spelling book em. >> the mighty maryland musicians have been practicing hard. now competing against bands from 33 other states in marching band mania, sponsored by cbs. >> she brought it up in a meeting and they just jumped on it and said oh, yeah, this is us. we're going to go for it and go after it and make this thing happen. >> big bucks riding on the hawaii 5-0 contest and cbs will award the winning school $25,000. >> and also we were hoping to use some of the money for new uniforms because i'm also the uniform manager and they're 13 years old and they have a lot in them but it would be nice to show our pride in something a little newer. i think we're all very hopeful that our video will get a lot of votes and i think we're all excited to come together and to

try our best. >> 9 news now. >> the greatest tv theme song ever may be close second to mission impossible, anyway maryland marching band log on to our website wusa9.com and look under the extras section. >> you can keep voting until october 4 and cast a vote every day so vote early and often and check it out at wusa9.com. i'm with you on number 2. >> yeah. >> mission impossible? >> yeah. here is the deal. a flash flood watch continues. it's not so much the district in prince georges and montgomery and fairfax. it's west of that. let's start with a wide radar and this is going to show you what's to the south of us. now by far and away the heaviest activity is just offshore which is good because that is really heavy, and here is the deal. there's still activity down 95 and even down into north carolina. this is going to work its way

northward. very tropical air mass but to think what's going to happen is while we'll get rain and showers in the metro area, heaviest activity is once again east of i-81 west of us. that said, i would still allow extra time before you leave tomorrow just because any time there's showers and the roads are wet it's not a good rush hour. let's go to live doppler 9,000 accessing it on our website at wusa9.com. light activity just starting to show up south of fredericksburg and that gets in here tomorrow, probably critical hours between 3:00 a.m. and about 7:00 a.m. let's go to the computer. for tonight our flash flood watch continues, breezy and muggy with rain and thunderstorms. low temperatures only 65-70, more summer like. winds increasing out of the south southeast at 10-20 and gusting. we'll tell you this again. never cross the flooded street by car or by foot. check your basement and attic if you have leaks and here is this sort of a little tip. if you don't get hit tonight or tomorrow with this heavy rain, a real big storm is coming in on thursday so go ahead and do

it. by 6:00 a.m. there will be showers around but again look for a wet commute and some delays whether or not we have flooding but the heaviest activity is setting up west of cumberland. we'll put this into motion. by lunch time you could get a bite to eat and leave your umbrella at home. couple sprinkles possible and then in the afternoon see breaks in the clouds and a little bit of sun and a few scattered showers so the day will improve greatly as we get after about 2:00 or 3:00 hour. satellite picture radar combined. lack at this moisture just peeling northward. the tropical air mass and again the good news is this heavy activity is offshore and right now we don't have to worry about that. the on thing we worry is the second batch toward richmond and i think again in the immediate metro area talking about half an inch shouldn't cause any problems. we'll break it down tomorrow, 72 to start, left over showers, clouds on the way out and then at 5:00 partly cloudy and warm. temperatures around 80. to start, showers ending in the morning, breezy and muggy 65-75 and then by afternoon, i think

skies will become partly sunny, breezy and muggy high temperatures around 80, a little bit above average. next seven days, 80 tomorrow morning, showers a bit cooler wednesday but dry. there is the big storm on thursday, we're talking rain, showers, thunderstorms, beach erosion, you name it, pretty big deal in the wake of that the coolest air of the season we hold in the 60s on friday, saturday and sunday, yes that includes high school football and fall for fairfax. >> fall-like. >> it is, yes. enough about that football team. let's talk basketball. >> gilbert was back today and as my grandmother would say he had a puss on his face. if you're waiting for gilbert's apology you're still waiting. the wizards star breaks his nine month silence but doesn't exactly reach out to the fans. plus, the skins go back to the labs to fix the worst defense in football. you know what it means to have a puss on. it means you got to clean up your face, gig bert! building wind farms and

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to give them something special. their old seats, 5 and 6, row c. [ male announcer ] citi thankyou points can be used for almost anything you choose. what's your story? citi can help you write it.

the last time we saw gilbert in public he was standing before a judge pleading guilty to a federal gun charge. that was six months ago. in the time since you would imagine the wizards star has been thinking of ways to apologize and thank the fans for his second chance. then again, maybe not. a seemingly disinterested gilbert made his first public appearance at wizards media day sporting a beard and a new number 9 on his uniform. he offered no apology for his behavior or any message to wizards fans. rather a grim declaration at the days of the happy go lucky gilbert are over. >> the only place i want to smile is on the court, you know? i know that's what my job is. that's where my love is, so that's all the time i need to

smile now. >> i think he's taken the right approach as far as very serious approach, because that's what we have to do as a team. >> interesting. wizards actually opened training camp in 35 minutes. john wall and the rest of the guys are holding a midnight madness practice in celebration at the patriot center in fairfax and it's open to the public. the redskins must feel forgiving albert hainesworth $100 million, they must feel forgiving him all that money and still having the worst defense in all of football. that's what they have after three weeks. 30 seconds out of 32. that's what happens when you give up 30 points two weeks in a row. yesterdays loss to the rams dropped the skins to one and two, same record they had last year at this time under jim done. granted it's still early for mike shanahan, but perhaps he doesn't walk on water after all. >> i'm a bit concerned with some third downs and all we got to do is get people off the field and we just got to get better in that area.

>> there's some reason it's one step behind. can't get off the field in the third down, couldn't make a stop, couldn't really make a play when we needed to. we fought back as a team but still wasn't enough. >> meanwhile, nursing that hip injury, redskins holds punter additions tomorrow. hunter smith who punted for the team last year is one of the lucky contestants. >> baseball now, ryan zimmerman wants to play again at some point before the end of the season but there's not much of an argument. zimmerman missed the last four games with a strained rib cage and it's not getting better and with six games left to go he's probably done for the year. john lannon just one run into the sixth but that's where philly broke it open, jason worth and 3-0 phils and then in the ninth it's roy halliday, putting it on danny and halliday goes the distance and clench the nl east title here in washington. o's in tampa as the rays try to hold off the yankees for the

first in the al east but not so fast as nick takes it to right and o's win 4-0 andres lead the yanks by half a game. >> finally you ever seen one of those nature videos where the rams get in a fight and lock horns and they can't separate themselves? yesterday it was a wild colt and broncos having the exact same problem. >> [laughter]. >> they were joined at the face mask until doctors surgically separated them in a risky 12 hour procedure or they would have had to go home like that which is difficult because they play for different teams. >> i love you man. >> that was good. we'll be right back.

tomorrow morning at 6:12, a product that's supposed to help people who are trying to quit smoking but it comes along with controversy. and the redskins [inaudible]. >> that's 9 news for tonight. thanks for staying up with us.

>> don't forget we're always on at wusa9.com. letterman is next. bye. >> goodnight. promise me low prices. and stick to it. like seriously low prices. [ male announcer ] at safeway, we made a promise of low prices. and we're keeping it. [ female announcer ] with club card specials like pork loin rib half, 99 cents a pound and campbell's select harvest soup only a $1 each. i need to know that when i'm here, the low prices will be too. monday, tuesday, everyday. i'm a big fan of everyday. [ male announcer ] and with thousands of everyday low prices, you'll save all over the store.

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[ female announcer ] low prices you can count on. right here in this neighborhood, i grew up learning strong families and hard work means opportunity. and that starts with good schools. it's a tradition here in maryland-- and why in these tough times i've put education first. we've made record investments in our classrooms... doubled the number of charter schools... and we've frozen college tuition for four years in a row. and it's working. experts say we now have the number one schools in the nation.

when it comes to expanding opportunity in every neighborhood, i know that we must do even better. four years ago, bob ehrlich got fired as governor of maryland. for good reason. first, he protected tax loopholes for giant cable cable companies. then, he let utilities jack up our rates 72%. and for the last four years, he worked as a hired gun for big corporations, even a bank that took billions from a taxpayer funded bailout. ehrlich sides with corporate executives again and again and again tell bob ehrlich big banks and billionares don't need help. middle class marylanders do. ( band playing "late show" theme )